Cheruiyot targets third successive win in Lausanne

Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya reacts after winning in the men's 1500m event of the IAAF Diamond League Shanghai athletics competition, in Shanghai on May 12, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / Johannes EISELE

In Summary

World silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot heads to Lausanne on Friday off the back of convincing victories in Stockholm and Stanford

Another Diamond League champion, Emmanuel Korir, will be looking for his first 800m win of the year

World silver medallist Timothy Cheruiyot heads to Lausanne on Friday off the back of convincing victories in Stockholm and Stanford.

The 2018 Diamond League champion, who will be competing in Lausanne for the first time, currently leads the series in his event but will face the four men who follow him in the standings: 2014 world indoor champion Ayanleh Souleiman, European champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Rabat winner Vincent Kibet and world indoor bronze medallist Bethwel Birgen.

Another Diamond League champion, Emmanuel Korir, will be looking for his first 800m win of the year.

His task will be made slightly easier by the fact that Nijel Amos, who beat Korir in Doha and Rabat, won’t be in Lausanne, but he’ll still have to compete with the likes of Canadian record-holder Brandon McBride, world and Olympic finalist Ferguson Cheruiyot.

As yet, no one has fully stamped their authority on the men’s 5000m in 2019. All of the IAAF Diamond League races in that discipline – or its associated distances – this year have had different winners.

Yomif Kejelcha won in Shanghai, Telahun Haile Bekele triumphed in Rome, Selemon Barega won the 3000m in Oslo and world cross-country champion Joshua Cheptegei won over two miles in Stanford.

All four of those men will be in Lausanne. In fact, the top nine athletes in the 5000m world rankings will toe the line at the Stade Olympique de la Pontaise in a loaded field that includes the likes of world champion and meeting record-holder Muktar Edris, Olympic silver medallist Paul Chelimo, Olympic bronze medallist Hagos Gebrhiwet and Asian champion Birhanu Balew, who won in Lausanne last year after Kejelcha and Barega collided and hit the track with 100 metres to go.

Winning in Lausanne proved to be a good omen for Mo Farah in 2015 and Edris in 2017 ahead of winning the world title in those respective seasons. For whoever wins on Friday, it will be interesting to see how they fare in Doha later this year.

Multiple world and Olympic gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce showed with her 10.73 run at the Jamaican Championships that she is approaching the best form of her life.

If she can reproduce that kind of shape in Lausanne, it will be difficult for the likes of world silver medallist Marie-Josee Ta Lou, European champion Dina Asher-Smith and double world 200m champion Dafne Schippers to stick with the Jamaican.